The invention relates to a method and apparatus for supporting an element to be supported, in particular the body of a patient, the apparatus having a support device proper and a monitoring or control device that is independent from and physically separate from the support device. The invention may be particularly advantageously applied to preventing and treating complications related to long periods of being confined to bed and of being kept still, in particular bedsores.
The prior art, and in particular the Applicant""s prior document FR-A-2 718 347=EP-A-676 158, which corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 5,560,374, discloses a method and a device for supporting an element to be supported, in particular the body of a patient, making it possible to support the element at an essentially constant controlled penetration depth.
In the Applicant""s prior document, a measurement device is provided comprising a first element that is integrated in the support device, which complicates the manufacturing technology and exposes the integrated element to any damage that is inflicted to the support element itself.
Furthermore, the monitoring or control means are disposed externally which increases the overall size of the device, and gives rise to coupling and installation difficulties.
In addition, that prior device suffers from the drawback that technical elements are integrated with the therapeutic surface, which increases the difficulty of managing the therapeutic surface, in particular as regards interchangeability.
To reduce the overall size and to simplify implementation and management, it has been proposed, in Document U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,551 to integrate the monitoring and control devices inside the mattress unit itself.
Unfortunately, that solution does not solve the problem of making the technical elements independent from the mattress unit, this problem being addressed for the first time by the inventors.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the new technical problem comprising providing a solution making it possible to dissociate fully the monitoring and control means from the support means, and in particular from the mattress constituting the therapeutic prevention and treatment surface when the body of a patient is to be supported.
Another main object of the present invention is to solve the new technical problem consisting in providing a solution making it possible to simplify the manufacturing technology of the support element, in particular of a mattress when the body of a patient is to be supported, and to make it independent from the monitoring or control technology for monitoring or controlling the support element, while retaining a structure that is simple with as few connections as possible, and in particular by making it impossible for such connections to be accidentally accessible or damageable.
Another object of the present invention is to solve the new technical problem consisting in providing a solution that makes it easy to replace the support element, in particular a mattress, when it is damaged or contaminated, without significantly affecting the monitoring and/or control means.
All of these technical problems are solved for the first time by the present invention in a manner that is simple, cheap, safe, and reliable, that is easy to implement, and that can be used industrially and medically.
Thus, in a first aspect, the present invention provides a method of supporting an element to be supported, in particular the body of a patient, the method consisting in providing at least one support device comprising at least one closed or controlled-release flexible chamber, in providing filling and emptying means for filling said chamber with a filling fluid and emptying said fluid from said chamber, and in providing control means for controlling the filling and emptying means, wherein said support device essentially comprises only said at least one closed or controlled-release chamber, together with inlet and outlet means via which said filling fluid can be fed in or removed, and wherein an independent control device is provided disposed under the support device, said control device comprising the filling and emptying means for filling the chamber with the filling fluid or for emptying said fluid therefrom, together with the control means proper for controlling feeding in or removing the filling fluid.
In an advantageous implementation, the independent control device further comprises measurement means for measuring the penetration distance to which the element to be supported penetrates into the chamber of the support device, the independent control means comprising servo-control means for servo-controlling the filling and emptying means present in said independent control device so as to servo-control feeding the filling fluid into said chamber of the support element and removing said fluid therefrom at least as a function of the measured penetration distance.
In another implementation, the measurement device present in the independent control device delivers information mirroring the extent to which the element to be supported penetrates into the support device, and it comprises a metal film associated with a spacer element of thickness that is predetermined and compressible as a function of the penetration distance to which the element to be supported penetrates into the chamber of the support device, said metal film co-operating with an impedance-varying element whose position is fixed and substantially opposite from said metal film, in particular under the bottom surface of the spacer element of variable thickness, an electric signal thus being generated as a function of the penetration distance to which the element to be supported penetrates into the support device, which signal is transmitted to the control system.
In another implementation, the spacer element of variable thickness is itself disposed on a spacer element of fixed thickness.
In another implementation of the invention, a shielding element, in particular a shielding induction coil, is provided disposed on that face of the spacer element of fixed thickness which is further from the above-mentioned impedance-varying element interposed between the spacer element of variable thickness and said spacer element of fixed thickness.
In a particularly advantageous other implementation of the invention, the above-mentioned support device is incorporated in an individual cover, the independent control device itself being incorporated in a second independent individual cover, the support device and the independent control device comprising coupling means enabling the control device to cause the filling fluid to be fed into the chamber of the support device or to be removed therefrom.
In another implementation of the invention, the control device takes up an area that is not larger than the area serving to receive the support device.
In another implementation of the invention, the element to be supported is constituted by the body of a patient, and the support element is constituted by a mattress comprising one or more closed or controlled-release flexible chambers as mentioned above, said mattress constituting the prevention or treatment surface, and the independent control device comprising all of the monitoring means and all of the control means for monitoring and controlling the therapeutic surface.
In a second aspect, the present invention relates to apparatus for supporting an element to be supported, in particular the body of a patient, the apparatus comprising: at least one support device comprising at least one closed or controlled-release flexible chamber; inlet and outlet means via which a filling fluid can be fed into said chamber or removed therefrom; and control means for controlling the filling and emptying means; wherein the support device essentially comprises only said at least one closed or controlled-release chamber, the support apparatus further comprising an independent control device disposed under the support device, said control device comprising the filling and emptying means for filling the chamber with the filling fluid or for emptying said fluid therefrom together with the control means proper for controlling feeding in and removing the filling fluid.
Various advantageous embodiments of the apparatus result clearly from the advantageous implementations of the method described above, and they may also result from the following description taken as a whole and incorporating the drawing.
It can thus be understood that the present invention makes it possible to solve the above-mentioned new technical problem well. In the context of the invention, when the support element is damaged or contaminated, such a support element being in particular a mattress, which is conventional when supporting patients confined to bed or kept still for prolonged periods of time, and in particular when treating such patients, the invention makes ideal interchangeability possible because the support element or the mattress is independent, of construction that is simple and cheap, and it contains no technical element. Furthermore, the support element, in particular a mattress, serves as a sort of protective surface for protecting the independent control device which is itself also protected by an individual protective cover.
It can thus be understood that the invention offers a decisive technical improvement making it possible to lower the manufacturing cost and above all the operating cost, this being a major concern when managing equipment, in particular in hospitals. Furthermore, the invention is very versatile because it can be adapted to suit any support device structure, in particular a mattress, and especially a mattress having a single chamber or a mattress having multiple chambers regardless of whether the chambers communicate with one another, and to suit surfaces whose operating modes are different, in particular single-chamber or multi-chamber support surfaces having continuous operating modes, and surfaces having modes involving alternating pressures, or rotating, pulsating, or percussive pressures, without this being limiting.
Other objects, characteristics, and advantages of the invention appear clearly on reading the following explanatory description made with reference to a currently-preferred embodiment of the invention given merely by way of illustration, and therefore in no way limiting the scope of the invention. It should be noted that any characteristic that appears to be novel compared with any prior art on the basis of the description taken as a whole and incorporating the drawing is an integral part of the present invention and of the present description.